Fifth Sunday
of Easter
April 28, 2013
Dear friends in Christ.
Whenever you watch a sporting
event like basketball or football, baseball or even NASCAR, it is very seldom
that you get a glimpse of the people operating the cameras. Oh, sure, from time to time the network might
give you a wide angle shot of the stadium crowd or maybe an unusual angle of
home plate, and in that shot you will see one or maybe two different cameras
with their operators. But on most
occasions we never see them. Even though
they have the very important job of following the ball as it arcs toward the
outfield wall, and capturing all the action of the game so that we feel like we
are right there in the stadium we hardly ever see them. We know they are there because we are being
blessed by the important work that they are doing, but in all reality they are
the ones who work behind the scenes, as it were. Well, in many ways this is how the Holy Spirit
works in God’s kingdom. He works behind
the scenes. He works quietly and often
times subtly as he does his most important work of calling people to faith in
Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Though we can often tell where he is and even sometimes see what he is
doing through the work that he has accomplishes, like most camera operators, we
never see him. This is why we want to
take a few minutes today to take a look at the important work that the Holy
Spirit does so that we might learn why it is so very important for us as
Christians.
Well, as Christians, we already
know why the work of the Holy Spirit is so very important! We know that the work of the Holy Spirit is
so important because he is the one who calls people to faith through the Word
of God. He is the one who causes faith
in Jesus to spring up in a person’s heart so that through that faith they might
have eternal life, just as Jesus promised us when he said, “For God so loved
the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall
not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, NIV84) And again, “Whoever believes and is baptized
will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:16,
NIV84)
Now, if I were to stand up here
this morning and tell you that I had a gift of $10.00 for each and every person
who came to church today, that would automatically mean that no one would be
excluded from that gift. Each person
would be given a $10.00 bill as they left church today. So, even if you were the last one ushered out
of church today, you would have no worries because you trusted me when I said
that I had a $10.00 bill for each and every person. In essence this is the same promise that
Jesus made when he went to the cross. He
proclaimed and promised that the benefits of his death and resurrection were
for all people. He ransomed everyone and
no one was left out. But, let me extend
that illustration just a little bit more.
What if, as you were leaving church today, I did offer you a $10.00
bill, but for whatever reason instead of taking it and being blessed by an
extra $10.00, you simply walked by and didn’t take it. Even though the money was yours and you would
have been blessed by it, you refused to take it and now you are not receiving
those blessings. Not only are you not
receiving the blessings, it is your own fault that you did not take the gift
that was offered you. The same is true
in God’s kingdom. It is the Holy Spirit
who works in our hearts to call us to faith so that we might receive the
blessings that Jesus offers us. However,
if someone resists or refuses to believe all the blame lies on the person who
refuses to believe in Jesus.
Sadly, this is our natural
spiritual condition and this is why the work of the Holy Spirit is so
important! As Paul tells us in
Ephesians, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in
which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the
ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are
disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the
cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the
rest, we were by nature objects of wrath." (Ephesians 2:1–3, NIV84)
By nature, we were nothing more
than spiritually dead and blind enemies of God.
We did not naturally come to faith in Jesus as our Savior nor did we,
one day, out of the blue, simply decide that we were going to become Christians
and follow Jesus for the rest of our life.
No; because by nature we were no different than a corpse lying in a
coffin! Though a well meaning pastor
might have promised us a gift of $10.00, we would not have been able to take
it. Even if he had come to our coffin
and placed the bill in our hand so that we took it to our grave, it would have
done us no good, because we were dead and blind enemies of God.
But now, everything has changed
because of the important work that the Holy Spirit has been about in our
hearts! The Apostle Paul says it this
way, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by
faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the
glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we
know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and
character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out
his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. 6 You see,
at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the
ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good
man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for
us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have
now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath
through him! 10 For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him
through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we
be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received
reconciliation." (Romans 5:1–11, NIV84)
We are at peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us while we were still sinners only because
the Lord himself poured out upon us, the promised Holy Spirit. It is through the work of the Holy Spirit
that we have been called to faith by the Gospel. It is through the work of the Holy Spirit
calling us to faith, in most cases through the water connected with the Word in
baptism, that we now believe in Jesus as our Savior. It is through the work of the Holy Spirit
that we have been gathered together as believers and enlightened with his
gifts, sanctified—made holy—and kept in the one true faith in Jesus Christ, our
Lord and Savior. It is the Holy Spirit
who works through the Gospel in the Word and in the Sacraments to call us to
faith and strengthen our faith in Jesus who has freed us from our sins by his
death and resurrection.
This is the work that the Holy
Spirit is continually doing, and this is the work in which we participate every
time we take the Word of God with us.
Though we have no power to call someone to faith, we have many, many
opportunities to plant the seeds of God’s Word in a person’s heart by humbly
and confidently sharing our faith. We
have many opportunities to tell others about Jesus, their Savior, who died on
the cross and rose again from the dead, so that through these beautiful words
of the Gospel the Holy Spirit might have the opportunity to work in another
person’s heart and cause the seeds of faith to grow.
What greater, more important work
could there be than the work that the Holy Spirit does! Though we might expect to find the Holy
Spirit right in the middle of the picture, like the reporters who cover the
sports action, he is the one who works behind the scenes, like the camera
operators. Though we have never seen
him, we know that he is at work. He is
at work in our hearts today, strengthening our faith in Jesus Christ as our
Savior. Yet, he is also at work in every
part of the World. He is working even
now, every place that the Word of God is being shared and taught. He is working through that word, calling
people to faith in Jesus Christ their Savior, strengthening their faith,
enlightening them with his gifts, sanctifying them and keeping them in the one
true faith, in Jesus their Lord and Savior.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
GraceEvangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
